Proverbs 25:4 ¶ Take away the dross from the silver, and
there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. 5 Take away the wicked from
before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness.
A dictionary will define dross as waste or impure
matter. The Bible will define it further as something that is impure in that it
is mixed with baser things.
Psalm 119:119 Thou puttest away all the
wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.
Ezekiel 22:18 Son of man, the house of Israel
is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the
midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.
The word, “finer” is used only once in the
Bible. It is the person who processes, refines, and purifies something. As
these verses, in their literal sense, refer to a king of Israel’s duty, he must
remove the wicked from his presence, even from his kingdom and his throne will
be established in righteousness.
Christ will remove the wicked from among those
claiming to be His people just as a finer would heat up silver to remove the
dross, the waste and impurity, from it. At His physical return to earth He will
separate the nations, evil from the good, as in Matthew 25. In Matthew 13, at
the end of the millennium, all of those who falsely proclaimed to obey Him but,
in fact, rebelled with the kings of the earth when Satan is loosed for a bit
from his imprisonment will be cast into everlasting fire. Now, no matter when
you believe these events will happen, as I am not intending to get into an
argument on this subject here the point remains the same and this is a valuable
lesson for us Christians.
Part of the purification process, part of our
sanctification process, is to remove the impure from the pure in our lives. We
have several ways to accomplish that. Some of you will make an effort every day
to live right and will by force of your own intentions, your own will, attempt
to live as you think Christ would have you live. Others, who have given up on
their own will, will submerge themselves in God’s written words in His Bible
and plead with God to change them as He sees fit.
The Bible is a finer, heating you up and
challenging you, burning away the impurities and the mixtures that take away
from what it is God wants you to be. Like a piece of granite the sculpture
uses, God will chip away at things about you He has no use for until He has
made something meet for use. Like the master builder He will add things that He
wants you to have. I am not talking about using the Bible as a book of rules or
advice, which has its place. I am talking about God speaking to you through His
words in this Book. As you read the lists of names in 1st Chronicles God will
deal with something in your heart, not in audible words, but in a way that
finds you changed once you’re done.
Yes, we read the Bible for God’s clear moral standard. Yes,
we read the Bible to understand God’s ways and His purposes. Yes, there is
history, science, and ethics taught in the Bible. We can learn from it in many
ways. However, that isn’t part of the purification process. This lifelong
process goes on as God’s word; read, heard, and preached are permitted to work
inside of you in a way that you have no control over. All you can do is submit
to its authority over your lives. God’s Bible is our final authority in all
matters of faith, practice, AND doctrine.
How much of your faith is polluted by your own
will, your own self-empowerment, your own carnal imagination and how much is
directed by an omnipotent and omniscient God? How many of you have faith in
your faith more than you have faith in Christ? How many of you declare
yourselves as Christians because of an act of will on your part rather than
submission to the truth of the God who created you?
We have impurities in our hearts and God uses
the Bible as the finer who will burn. Yes, God uses our circumstances to purge
us from things that we hold onto that are not of God or, good things that we
have placed in between us and God. Many a young mother has been forced to look
up when God took her baby from her. Many a young man has been made to look to
the heavens when his dreams for his life were shattered by a disease or
condition. But, without the Bible’s clear direction, taught by the Holy Spirit
that dwells within us, these circumstances would be just a test of our strength
to hold onto our own faith in ourselves to withstand adversity.
As we grow in faith God uses His word to remove
the impurities from our lives like the finer uses fire to remove the dross from
the silver. There are so many verses in the Bible that deal with things that He
does not want in our lives and things that He does want that it is staggering
to read them all.
Our love of money and wealth is in the way of
our relationship with Christ.
Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters:
for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to
the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Your own will can’t drive out this lust. You’ll
just wrap it up in a pretty package with a bow and say you are seeking wealth
to glorify God. Reading the Bible over and over will disabuse you of that
notion.
Our love of what attracted Eve to the forbidden
fruit is in the way of our relationship with Christ. Let’s compare the passage
in Genesis with the admonition in 1 John.
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be
desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave
also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
1John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of
the Father, but is of the world.
You will not, of your own accord, remove these impurities
from the silver that is your faith. You’ll make excuses. You’ll lie. I can’t
tell you how many times I’ve heard a Christian say they were not doing
something ungodly that they clearly were doing. And they believed their own
lie. They’d say they weren’t gossiping while they gossiped. They’d say they
weren’t placing themselves as an ideal example when they were. They’d say they
were a wicked sinner, a piece of dirt, when every action and every word that
came from them showed they didn’t believe that one bit.
The Bible will change you. Beyond the Bible
study, beyond the memorization of a verse or two, beyond these necessary
things, if you submit to God’s word, God will remove sin from your heart. Will
you cease from sin? Not on this earth you won’t. Will you be perfected and
complete? Not yet. But, God will change you through His words in His Book. If
your changes don’t come directly from the divine hand of a Holy God then they
are purely humanistic drivel, the success or failure of which is based on your
human will.
Won’t you let God fine you? Won’t you let Christ
change you? Won’t you deny yourself and submit yourself to God through His
words? You have Christ in your heart. The Word (Capital W) of God by which all
things were created and by which all things are sustained. Now let His words
(small W) into your heart, soul, and mind to change you into a vessel meet for
the Master’s purpose. The King of all creation will remove that which has no
value from your life and make you useful for His purpose.
John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth:
thy word is truth.
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